Holiday tree lightings and displays around the country

Thursday

Nov 27, 2008 at 3:15 AM

NEW YORK (AP) — Here's a holiday activity that's easy on the budget: Official Christmas tree lightings. They're usually free, though some drive-through displays charge admission by the car, and most are up through New Year's Day or a few days later.

The famous celebration at Rockefeller Center takes place Dec. 3, 7-9 p.m. If you can't be part of the crowd that night, watch from home on TV or stop by in person later in the season.

In Washington, D.C., the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse will be lit Dec. 4. Tickets for the ceremony have already been distributed, but you can see it through Jan. 1.

On Dec. 2 at 5 p.m., the Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony takes place on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.

If you're celebrating Christmas in California, stop by the 100-foot fir tree at The Grove in Los Angeles, which was lit Nov. 23, and is decorated with 10,000 lights and 15,000 ornaments.

On Christmas Eve in Louisiana, over 100 bonfires are built along the banks of the Mississippi in the locales of Lutcher, Gramercy and Reserve. It's an old Cajun tradition, to guide the way for "Papa Noel." Gray Line offers a six-hour trip to see the event, departing 3 p.m. from New Orleans, including a tour of the Destrehan Plantation and dinner. The cost is $76 for adults, $48 for children. Reservations can be made at 800-535-7786 or at http://www.graylineneworleans.com.

In Salt Lake City, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lights up Temple Square beginning Nov. 28.

In Boston, Nova Scotia sends a Christmas tree every year as thanks for relief sent from Massachusetts following the Halifax Explosion in 1917. This year's tree will be lit Dec. 4, 6-8 p.m., on the Boston Common.

The Chicago Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Daley Plaza takes place Dec. 2 at around noon.

Cincinnati's Norway spruce will be lit at Fountain Square on Nov. 28, with festivities starting at 6:30 p.m.

Detroit's tree was lit Nov. 21 at Campus Martius Park. You can go ice skating there when you visit.

Des Moines, Iowa, offers 3.3 miles of "Jolly Holiday Lights," a nighttime drive-through display in Water Works Park, Nov. 25-Jan. 1. Admission is $9 per car.